June 14, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Love in a Perverse World

Love in a Perverse World

Deuteronomy 32:15-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
    filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned the God who made them
    and rejected the Rock their Savior.
¹⁶ They made him jealous with their foreign gods
    and angered him with their detestable idols.
¹⁷ They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—
    gods they had not known,
    gods that recently appeared,
    gods your ancestors did not fear.
¹⁸ You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
    you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ The Lord saw this and rejected them
    because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
²⁰ “I will hide my face from them,” he said,
    “and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
    children who are unfaithful.
²¹ They made me jealous by what is no god
    and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
    I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

Who “abandoned the God who made them” (verse 15)?

How did they make God jealous (verse 16)?

Who did they sacrifice to (verse 17)?

What did they do to “the God who gave” them birth (verse 18)?

What did the Lord do when He “saw this” (verse 19)?

How is the generation described (verse 20)?

What will the Lord do “by those who are not a people” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

Matthew 17:14-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

¹⁷ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” ¹⁸ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

What did the man who approached Jesus do (verse 14)?

Who did the man want Jesus to “have mercy on” (verse 15)?

What could the disciples not do (verse 16)?

How does Jesus describe the generation (verse 17)?

What happened when “Jesus rebuked the demon” (verse 18)?

Where did the disciples ask Jesus why couldn’t we drive it out” (verse 19)?

How much faith does it take to move a mountain (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does Jesus in Matthew 17:14-20 help us understand about what it takes to remove ourselves from the perverse generation described in Deuteronomy 32:15-21, the one that He was talking to, and the one that we live in?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

What makes a person who can “speak in the tongues of men or of angels” into a resounding gong (verse 1)?

What is someone who has “a faith that can move mountains” but not love (verse 2)?

How much does someone gain if they give everything but “do not have love” (verse 3)?

What is patient and kind (verse 4)?

In your opinion, how can love not keep a record of wrongs (verse 5)?

What does love rejoice with (verse 6)?

How long does love persevere (verse 7)?

How is love different from prophecies, tongues and knowledge (verse 8)?

What do we do “in part” (verse 9)?

When are the ways of childhood put behind (verse 11)?

How are we known (by God) (verse 12)?

What is the greatest of “faith, hope and love” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 help us understand about how the relationship with God of the descendants of those listening to Moses’s song in Deuteronomy 32:15-21 could and abandon God?

In your opinion, how does our understanding of what the disciples lacked change when we read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 after reading Jesus’s accurate emphasis on the lack of their faith in Matthew 17:14-20?

Philippians 2:12-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and :trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good -purpose.

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

What does Paul want the Philippian Christians to “work out” (verse 12)?

Who works in Christians “to fulfill his good purpose” (verse 13)?

How does Paul instruct the Philippians Christians to do “everything” (verse 14)?

What does Paul recognize about the generation they are living in (verse 15)?

What should they “hold firmly to” as they shine in that generation (verses 15 and 16)?

How does Paul feel, even as he is “being poured out like a drink offering” (verse 17)?

How should the Philippian Christians respond to Paul (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does Moses anticipating the Israelite people abandoning God in Deuteronomy 32:15-21 help us understand why Paul would instruct in Philippians 2:12-18 to “continue to work out your salvation”?

In your opinion, how are the generation that Jesus is talking to in Matthew 17:14-20 and the generation that Christians are living among in Philippians 2:12-18 connected?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 help us understand about what we need to work on to follow the instructions of Philippians 2:12-18 to “work out your salvation”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Philippians teach us about not being people of the world?

In your opinion, how do we grow our faith among a people who have abandoned God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)